Hospice Service Update - 23rd March 2020

Firstly, may I, as the Director of Quality and Care here at Saint Francis Hospice, take this opportunity to thank everyone for their understanding and support at this time for the Hospice and our workforce it is greatly appreciated.

As you can imagine this is a challenging time for us as we so want to continue to provide vital services to the local people who need us at this time '" however we must heed the Government's advice which is intended to keep you safe and for our staff.

Emergency service plans are now underway. So as of today, the follow decisions have been made in relation to service provision which is in addition to the changes we identified below from 18th March 2020. 

Remaining the same at this time:

At this time Hospice at Home service remains business as usual but we anticipate this changing soon, please no we will discuss any changes directly with you.

The Hospice ward remains fully functional. Our wish is to keep providing a service on the ward that can respond to need.
Please do note changes to visitors guidance below under the 'Visiting the Hospice' section.

We of course will still be supplying Safeguarding Support and Pastoral Care Support.

Service changes:

Specialist Community & Crisis Support (SCCS) services, will move to a predominately telephone support service.

This means there will be very few essential home visits made the majority of support will be via phone and we will also ask you other ways in which we may be in touch such as Skype, what's app etc.

Occupational therapy and Physiotherapy services will move to a predominately telephone support service.
We will still be running a small equipment service for those in need and if you are one of those in ned we will ensure the equipment being brought to you is fully sanitised and where it doesn't need fitting we will arrange to leave at your door. The equipment that may need fitting we will work with you to do this safely.

Complementary Therapy Services will cease from this week and those within that team will be helping other services

Family support & Social Work will move to a predominately telephone support service.

Bereavement Counsellors will keep in contact and offer telephone support where possible.

Orange Line (our support helpline) teams will support those groups who would have attended social groups and clinics via telephone.

Tea Talk and Toby and Friendly Faces groups have now been suspended.

From Wednesday 18th March 2020 we continued essential clinical services but will be temporarily ceasing other face to face services, which include all group activities and therapies:

• Pemberton Place (our day therapy centre) closed from Wednesday 18th March as a venue for social groups and all therapy led groups.
• Pemberton Place and OrangeLine (our support helpline) teams will support those groups who would have attended social groups and clinics via telephone.
• Outpatient appointments on site stopped from Wednesday 18th March.
• Family Support Services groups are cancelled until further notice. The following cancelled groups include: Walk on group - first Wednesday of the month, Bereavement group - fourth Wednesday of the month, Young adult group - third Wednesday of the month.

Once again I thank you so much for your understanding and support as we endeavour to provide you with the best and safest service we can at this time.

Tes Smith, Director of Quality and Care

Visiting the Hospice - Advice for visitors of in-patients during COVID-19

We are asking visitors to respect the new limit of one visitor at the bedside at any one time. And where possible please consider keeping in touch via phone or video calls.

The visiting window is between 10:00am and 8:00pm, but please could we ask that the visiting time is restricted to 2 hours per visitor per patient.

We understand that circumstances may prevail this in certain situations.

Please do not visit if you are:

• unwell, especially if you have a high temperature or a new, persistent cough.
• vulnerable as a result of your medication, a chronic illness or if you are over 70 years of age.

Please remember to wash your hands and apply alcohol gel as you enter the Hospice, before you enter the ward. This is for your safety, your loved ones and our staff.

Thank you for your co-operation through this difficult time, should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to the nurse in charge.

We understand that if you will want to be in touch with your loved one, even if you are unwell. Please call us on 01708 753319 so we can arrange a way to make this happen.

Please continue to review Public Health England guidance regularly and if you require any further clarification on whether to visit the Hospice please call 01708 753319.

Thank you for your co-operation.